Micro-Data Efficiency Evaluation of Forest Companies

Abstract

The forestry sector is facing critical challenges due to climate change. Decision-making support based on efficiency evaluation using non-parametric methods could provide important information for both forest managers and policymakers. However, such advanced technical analysis is scarce in forestry science. When applied, its application has been primarily based on aggregated, macro-level data, and efficiency was analysed for the forestry sector as a whole. There is a lack of studies from the company-level perspective, which are needed to provide sound decision support.In this paper, we focus on the micro-data level and offer the data envelopment analysis model settings and interpretations for an efficiency evaluation based on the financial data of individual forestry companies. The aim is to provide an original analysis of the company-level driving forces of forestry sector efficiency. The results for central European countries show that efficiency is driven by company size and country of operation. The study also confirms that, generally, German companies are the »efficiency leaders« in the region, while Czech companies may serve as an efficiency reference for east-central European forestry companies.